Game apparatus.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1908.

G. S. PARKER. GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, 1907.

TINTTE- STATES PATENT @FFTQ.

GEORGE S. PARKER, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PARKER BROTHERS, INCOR- PORATED, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

GAME APPARATUS.

Application filed June 13, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Sa lem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Game Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to game apparatus designed to afford amusement and recreation, to the player or players that participat in the game.

The game apparatus comprises generally a game board provided with deflecting pegs, movable pins or men, and a spinning top. The above, however, with other novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts characterizing my'invention, will be best understood and appreciated by reference to the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, of a game apparatus embodying one form of my invention and selected for purposes of illustration, its scope being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1, is a perspective view of the game board, with parts broken away for convenience of illustration, showing the fixed deflecting pegs, the movable pins, and the spinning top as released from its carrying and releasing device; and Fig. 2, is a vertical section of the spinning top employed.

Referring to the drawings and to the particular embodiment of my invention selected for illustration therein, I provide a suitable game board 1, Fig. 1, herein shown as a box or receptacle in which the pegs, pins, and top, are normally retained and which is provided with inclosing or bounding walls 2 preferably, though not necessarily, at its periphery, and which, herein, form the sides of the box. This box may be of any desired shape, but in the present instance, is preferably rectangular or square and has a suitable top or cover (not shown). The bottom 3 of the box is formed to present a smooth, level or horizontal spinning surface having an open, unbroken area over which the top 4 travels during its spinning movements. The spiiming surface, 3, is provided with a series of vertical "fixed pins or pegs 5, which are pref- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 5, 1908.

Serial No. 378,747.

erably, though not necessarily, of wood and fastened firmly to the bottom, being therefore more or less resilient, so that when the spinning top strikes them, the reaction causes the top to rebound and dart off in another direction. These pegs are preferably, though not necessarily, symmetrically arranged relative to the sides 2 of the box and to present a generally open top receiving space 6, herein centrally located, in which the top may be released and started upon its travels. As here shown, said pegs 5 are preferably arranged in two series, an inner and outer, the outer series comprising a number of pegs, here shown as four, adjacent the four corners of the game board. The inner series also consist of four pegs preferably arranged at the angles of an imaginary square the diagonals of which are arranged at right angles relative to lines drawn between the adjacent members of the outer series of pegs at the four corners of the box. All of these pegs are suitably secured to the bottom of the box, so as to be immovable therein and to prevent their being knocked. over or displaced by the impact of the top during its traveling movements. The arrangement of the pegs, however, is largely a matter of choice and may be widely modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In addition to the fixed pins with which the inclosed area is studded spinning surface, 3, also receives a plurality of movable or readily over-turnable pins or men, 7, Fig. 1, substantially similar in general form to what are known as nine pins, although of minia ture size. These pms are placed upon the game board in any desired position. In the present construction, however, I prefer to arrange them in a circle between the inner and outer series of pegs 5, thus also to leave the center of the game board preferably entirely unobstructed or open for affording a suflicient space to permit the top with its carrier, in the hands of the player, to be placed over or in said space and the top released.

As here shown, these pins are placed upright upon suitably positioning marks, shown in dotted lines Fig. 1, before each player takes his turn in spinning the top. This top, 1, preferably comprises a base portion 8 of circular cross section and having at its foot a curved and relatively flat spinning and travel ing point 9 and at its head a vertical spindle 10. The provisions of a top circular in cross section secures a uniformity of bound and rebound. Adjacent the spindle, the top is provided with a circular flat face on which are two short upstanding pins 11, one or the other of which is adapted to be engaged by the hook shaped end of a coil spring 12 arranged within a central aperture extending throughthe top carrier or head 13 and se cured thereto at its upper end as represented at 14. This top carrier is also provided with a verticalspring pressed pin 15, the lower end of which is adapted yieldingly to engage one or another of three concentric grooves, 16, best shown in Fig. 1, formed in the adjacent circular face of the top. The bottom walls of these grooves are each inclined to permit the carrier to be rotated while the top, the spindle of which is received within the coil spring 12, is held stationary by the player, so t at the coil spring may .be wound up, the pin 15 sliding from one groove to the next and holding the top wound up under any desired tension.

Assuming the pins to be set and the top wound up in the manner described, and it being desired to spin the top, the player grasps the detached, spring actuated top carrier or head 13 between his first and second finger (see Fig. 1) with his thumb resting upon the top of the spindle 10. He then moves the top into or over the central space 6 in the game board and depresses the top spindle, so as to push the top down below the position in which the pin 15 engages one of the grooves 16, simultaneously also causing the release of the hooked end of the spring from its holding pin 11, releasing the top from the carrier and permitting itto spin rapidly as it falls upon the spinning surface 6.

While the top spins, the action of its traveling point on the horizontalsmooth spinning surface causes the top to travel back and forth thereon and to strike the vertical walls 2 of the game board, the resilient pegs 5, or the pins 7, each of which, by its reaction on the spinning surface on the top, causes the latter to rebound and to move or to dart off in a different direction and by its irregular travel over the spinning surface to knock over or upset one or more of the movable pins.

In playing the game, the player or the different participants, each has one or more turns in which to spin the top; the number of pins upset or knocked over by the top, counting so many points towards winning the game.

It will be readily understood, by those skilled in the art, that apparatus of this type is of relatively simple construction and that no means are employed for imparting predetermined directing movements to the to so that it travels in indefinite or irregular (firections over the spinning surface, between the inclosing walls, the pegs, and the pins and in striking any one 'of them quickly rebounds in a new direction with the proba bility of striking and upsetting additional pins, the chances of so doing, of course, oliminishing with each pin upset.

The top, having a detachable, spring-actuated head, may be dropped, while spinning at a high speed, vertically upon the game board either upon or among the pins, or at any desired point, its subsequent travel therefor and the number of pins that it will overturn being determined by the landing position of the top and its vertical contact with a pin or pins, as well as by the speed of rotation and lateral contact with the pins and the bounding walls of the board.

The game board or top should preferably be supported upon a level surface, so that the top will not gravitate to either one side or the other during its spinning movement and to cause all movements of the top to be entirely produced by its spinning action and the reaction caused by striking the sides of the box, said deflecting pins or the men, all of which have a height at least as great as that of the base portion of the top.

As the top has no predetermined direction of movement and'is provided with no means for directing its movement, it constitutes a sort of crazy traveler within the inclosing walls of the game board, for which reason, I designate the game as the Crazy Traveler.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the outer series of pegs 5, which, as has been stated, are adjacent the corners of the box, are so placed as to prevent the spinning top from traveling with said corners, the distance of each of the pegs from the adjacent walls in the present instance, being less than the transverse dimension, herein the diameter, of the top. These pegs therefore constitute means for guarding the corners to prevent the entrance of the top thereto, the latter upon striking the guarding peg being deflected to some other point of the board, as described.

While in the particular embodiment of my invention, herein selected for purposes of description and illustration, I have shown a game board of substantially square or rectangular shape and have mounted and arranged the pins and pegs therein in a particular manner,. obviously my invention is not limited thereto, nor to other specific details of construction and arrangement, the same being capable of modification within wide limits without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Claim.

1. A game apparatus to involve the element of skill as well as that of mechanical action comprising an open, unbroken surfaced game board having a bounding wall only and with the inclosed area studded with fixed and with readily overturnable pins, combined with a spinning top having a detachable spring actuated head to permit the top when spinning at high speed to be dropped vertically upon said game board, either upon or among said pins, at any desired point, whereby its subsequent variable travel on the board and the number of pins that it will overturn is determined by the landing position of the top and vertical contact thereof with a pin or pins, as Well as by the speed of rotation and lateral contact with said pins.

2. A game apparatus .to involve the element of skill as well as that of mechanical action comprising an open, unbroken surfaced game board having a bounding wall only and with the inclosed area studded with fixed and with readily overturnable pins combined with a spinning top having a detachable spring actuating head to permit the top when spinning at high speed to be dropped vertically upon said game board, either upon or among said pins, at any desired point, the top being circular in cross section to insure uniformity of bound and rebound, the fixed pins being spaced from each other and from the bounding wall, about the board, to permit the passage of the top between said fixed pins into contact with and to rebound from the bounding wall, the variable travel of the top on the board and the number of pins that it will overturn being determined by the landing position of the top, the vertical contact thereof with a pin or pins, its speed of rotation and its angular rebound from the bounding wall and the fixed pins.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE S. PARKER. Witnesses:

JOSIAH MINOT FOWLER, THOMAS B. BooTH. 

